Choosing A New Path

We all get scared. I admit I do now and again. I recently went rock wall climbing with my friends at MEC and sure enough, half way up I got freaked. (Yeah go ahead and laugh… the tall guy is scared of heights.) Even though I was harnessed in and knew I was safe, once I got to a certain height, I panicked. Something in me said, “STOP you can’t do this. GET DOWN!”

If you’ve never been indoor rock wall climbing the wall is covered in little colourful ledges just big enough for you to cram your toes and fingers into on your journey to the top of the wall. They are all different colours relating to different levels of difficulty. I had chosen the orange level and had been determined to only use orange and forgo cheating and using other nearby ledges. Then it happened…. I came to a spot where the next orange ledge was not going to work for me and I froze. Things like this happen in real life all the time.

When I was younger I had a clear path. Balancing school and part time jobs allowed me to earn good grades, save some money and get into university. The plan was to find a job in my field and live happily ever after. One day my path was interrupted. For nearly 10 months I did not know what to do. I laid in bed for days hiding under the blanket. All that work to get here and now this? I was devastated. Life, however, as they say, goes on and finally one day someone showed me another option, a new path if you will. It was right in front of me, but I had not seen it. I took a chance and can tell you now, going for it has changed my life and has taken me to new amazing places.

Back to being half way up that climbing wall. That little orange ledge was out of reach. I was starting to sweat. I didn’t want to give up but was momentarily paralyzed. Then I remembered I had gotten past things that were thousands of times more difficult and much, much scarier. This was nothing! I looked around. OK, maybe I was not going to make that orange ledge, but there was a blue one. Then a white, followed by a green. I zigzagged up that wall using all the colours of the rock climbing rainbow!

The path you set out on will not always end up working out. Life is not perfect and that is ok. Take the detours you run into as they come. At the end of the day, life is supposed to be colourful.

Want to go for a colourful climb? Check out the gear from MEC and remember, no matter what, enjoy the journey.